Vigorous brushing of the teeth with excessive force can cause damage to teeth and gum tissue. Attempts have been made to produce protective toothbrushes that yield in response to excessive manual force being exerted on teeth and gum tissues by the toothbrush. One example is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,146,645 issued to Robert S. Dirksing on Sep. 15, 1992, which is hereby incorporated by reference in entirety. The Dirksing toothbrush includes a force indicator that is intended to visually and tactually signal the user when a predetermined brushing force is exceeded. U.S. Pat. No. 5,054,154 issued to Schiffer et al. on Oct. 8, 1999, which is hereby incorporated by reference in entirety, discloses a flexible toothbrush intended to allow the bristle head to move out of the way in the event of excessive brushing pressure being applied during use. U.S. Pub. No. 2011/0016651 A1 (Piserchio) published Jan. 27, 2011, which is hereby incorporated by reference in entirety, discloses a pressure-sensitive toothbrush including a ball and
socket joint that is intended to become disengaged and temporarily disabled for toothbrushing, when the user exerts too much pressure on the toothbrush. Toothbrushes in the prior art may suffer various problems, including: undesired complexity in usage, imprecise mechanisms of operation, poor durability, breakage during use, constructions that are unrepairable when components are broken or worn, untimely wear of the pressure sensitive mechanisms, and complexity in manufacturing. For reasons stated above and for other reasons which will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the present specification, there is a need in the art for improved protective toothbrushes.